No. in THE JACKSONIAN OOLOGICAL COLLECTION. 
A. J. 
Dat Campbell's No. of 
No. Book. Eggs. 
sticks, was placed on a horizontally forked branch of a scrub tree, leaning over a small creek, and only 
six feet above the water. We were successful in finding several sets of these rare eggs, but this was our 
first take. During November of the previous season (1892), I found a nest of this species containing 
two young birds, a fact which gave me much valuable assistance with regard to the locality they 
frequented during breeding season ; also the style of their nests, and the position in which they are 
placed. The birds feed on the muddy slopes of the river bank at low tide, and I have often seen 
them perched in the River Oaks on the bank, waiting for the tide to recede. These eggs are of a 
beautiful bluish-green, and have no markings. Specimen A. measures = 1°72 X 1°20. 
YELLOW-NECKED MANGROVE BITTERN, 
Dupetor gouldi, Bonaparte. 
(This bird is known to the aborigines of the Clarence River district as '* U-den-u-dijee.”’) 
This splendid set of 4 rare eggs was taken opposite Riverview, near Grafton, Clarence River, on 
the 17th of December, 1893, by Frank and Sid. W. Jackson. The nest was a very flat structure, com- 
posed of thin dried stems and twigs of the Weeping Willow (Salix Babylonica), and placed on a 
horizontal branch of that tree, which was leaning over the water 12 feet up. This bird is very like the 
latter, in fact it would appear as one and the same species to the casual observer. Its general habits 
and environments are precisely the same, notwithstanding that the eggs are pure white, and not of a 
bluish-green, as is the case with the previous species. In all we found five nests, with clutches of eggs, 
and they varied from two to four in number for a sitting, being rounder and more swollen specimens 
than those of the preceding species. The shell is minutely pitted all over. The dimensions of the 
four eggs of the set under notice are as follows :—Specimen A. = 1°67 x 1°31. Specimen B. = 1°66 
x 1°32. Specimen C. = 1°66 x 1°34. Specimen D. = 1°63 x 1°30. The eggs of our smallest 
Australian species of this family, viz., the Minute Bittern (4 rdetta pusilla), I have never seen. I have 
learned of them, and strange to say they are also pure white, but only measure a little over an inch in 
length. While exploring the reed beds of Dee Why Lagoon, north of Manly, near Sydney, during 
October of 1905, incompany with A. F. Basset Hull, I found a nest of this species. In a trench where 
the rushes were tall and growing luxuriantly, we heard a fluttering sound, and on going over discovered 
that our dog had captured one of these birds ( ? ) at its nest, the latter being quite new, and just ready 
for eggs. Unfortunately the bird was much damaged, thus rendering it necessary for us to kill her. 
On dissection we found that she was just ready to start laying ; so our loss was great, losing an oppor- 
tunity that may never occur again in this direction, by giving us a chance to take the very rare egg of 
the species. ‘The bird was preserved, and has since found a resting place in the “ Hull Collection.” 
The nest measured about eight inches across, and was a flat open structure, composed of rushes and 
grass loosely put together and bent into a platform shape, being fastened to the reeds about fifteen 
inches above the water. 
LARGE EGRET OR WHITE CRANE, 
632 706 4 Herodias timoriensis, Lesson. 
This is a perfect set of 4 eggs, which was taken by H. V. Foster on Stony Island, Tuckian Swamp, 
Richmond River, N.S.W., on the 6th of November, 1899. The birds were nesting in a colony, and 
the nests contained from incomplete sets of eggs to some almost hatched. They were made of sticks, 
and were placed in trees which stood in the swamp. I only found these birds breeding on one occasion 
in the Clarence River district, and the nests all contained young birds. It was a very great disappoint- 
ment to me in not getting one single egg from the thirteen nests. Specimen A. of the above set 
measures in inches = 2°22 x 1°58. 
LITTLE SPOTLESS EGRET, 
Garzetta nigripes, Temminck. 
Set of 3 rare eggs, taken by E. Drew on the 25th of April, 1898, near the Nicholson 
River, North-west Queensland. The nest was built of sticks and lined with green Eucalyptus leaves, 
and was placed, with several others, on a Eucalyptus tree leaning out over the edge of aswamp. This 
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